Some relations concerning triangles and bicentric quadrilaterals in connection with Poncelet's closure theorem when conics are circles not one inside of the other (Q2565463)

Let \(C\) and \(\Gamma\) be the circumcirle and incircle of the triangle \(ABC\), and let \(r\) and \(\rho\) be the circumradius and inradius, respectively. Let \(z\) be the distance between the centers of \(C\) and \(\Gamma\), and let \(t_1\), \(t_2\), and \(t_3\) be the lengths of the tangents from \(A\), \(B\), and \(C\) to \(\Gamma\). Then \(t_1t_2+t_2t_3+t_3t_1 = 4r\rho - \rho^2\). This can be used to prove Euler's relation \(r^2-z^2=2r\rho\). In the paper under review, the author lets \(\Gamma\) be an excircle instead of the incircle. Assigning appropriate signs to the \(t_i\), he proves that \(| t_1t_2+t_2t_3+t_3t_1| = 4r\rho - \rho^2\), and he uses this to establish the Euler-like relation \(z^2 - r^2=2r\rho\). If the triangle \(ABC\) is replaced by a quadrilateral \(ABCD\) that is bicentric, i.e., that admits a circumcircle \(C\) and an incircle \(\Gamma\), then relations among the circumradius \(r\), the inradius \(\rho\), the distance \(z\) between the centers, and the lengths \(t_i\) of the tangents from the vertices of \(ABCD\) to \(\Gamma\) can be used to establish Fuss's relation \(2\rho^2(r^2+z^2)=(r^2-z^2)^2\); see Problem 39 of [\textit{H. Dörrie}, 100 great problems of elementary mathematics (Dover Publications, N. Y.) (1965; Zbl 0496.00001)]. The author considers the situation when the incircle is replaced by an excircle, i.e., a circle that touches the extensions of the sides and he proves that Fuss's relation still holds. Along the way, the author gives elementary proofs of the Poncelet's closure theorems (i) for a triangular traverse when the two circles intersect each other, and (ii) for a quadrilateral traverse when the two circles lie outside each other.